Love or War
by Peace Ocean
Summary: A Collab with MonsterHigh. Zach, not a person you'd mess with. Unless you're part of the WK team...or Candace Gates...
1. Chapter 1

**Iris: Well, I am really happy! =D We wrote a three author chapter!**

**Prin: Yup and the Awesome third Author is...*drumroll* MonterHigh108! *thundering applause* We enjoyed writing with you!**

**Iris: Also, we dedicate this chapter to Waterfall13, who wasn't able to work with us on this story... Thank you! Enjoy!**

Zach stacked piles of papers in one corner of his office, trying to get the mess out of the way. A frown found its way onto his face as he looked around the large empty room.  
Lonely. In a word, the whole house was lonely. Sometimes he longed for a bit of companionship, but no one wanted to be around him.  
A Zach-bot came up to him, beeping worriedly.  
"An intruder, Master."  
"Then capture him!"  
"It's a female, master."  
Zach groaned. Did the darned robots always have to be so specific?  
"THEN HER! Just get her!"  
The Zach-bot beeped affirmatively, and flew out of the room. Then Zach realized what it had said. A_ her_?

Candace stealthily crept around the corners, replaying Aviva's words in her head, over and over.  
_Get in, get the info, get out. Get in, get the info, get out. Get in, get the info, get out._  
She spotted his office, clearly marked "ZACH VARMITECH'S OFFICE" in red lettering. She rolled her eyes.

_Seriously?_

Suddenly, several Zach-bots zoomed up behind her.  
"Uh-oh."  
She ran to the office, slamming the doors and barricading them with a large couch that was in the room. The Zach-bots pounded on the door.

"Okay, okay. I'm trapped in a room, with Zach-bots trying to capture me or worse…"

"Don't forget that you're trapped in the room with Zach Varmitech."

Candace glanced over her shoulder, and turned back to the door, not really realizing what she had seen.

"Yeah, trapped wi-AH!" she jumped, and faced an annoyed Zach leaning against his desk, his arms crossed and glaring lightly at her. A moment later, Zach pushed a button on his desk.  
"Call it off, I got her."  
She wasn't sure what to do. She was against the wall.  
Zach glanced over her, taking in the blue shorts that left most of her slightly tanned legs exposed. Her _long_ legs. His eyes moved up, taking in her full, but modest chest, her open, clean face and blonde hair, her guarded gray blue eyes in one sweep. She was…pretty, to say the least, but what was a girl…well, young woman like her doing snooping in his house?

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Zach's curiosity to know who she was and why she was here grew. Candace stared carefully at Zach. He didn't seem so bad. He was actually kind of cute, despite the light glare he was giving her at the moment.

Wait... what was she thinking? He was an enemy! She snapped out of her thoughts quickly to answer his question.

"My name is Candace Gates. " Candace stood up slowly not wanting anything else to go wrong. Zach tilted his head slightly, still wanting to know more about her.

"Where did you come from?" he asked her, raising one of his jet black eyebrows. Candace was considering answering honestly, but she knew how he would react if he found out she worked with the Wild Kratts crew. Bye-bye Candace.

"That's classified." Candace looked around the dark, almost empty room. Everything was black, gray and dark red.

_"Man, it's lonely in here. I almost feel sorry for him," _she thought to herself, returning her gaze to the robotics inventor in front of her.

Zach was begining to feel suspicious of this young woman standing in his office. "Maybe you should go..."

"Well, then...sorry Zach" Candace suddenly realized she made a huge mistake.

Zach's eyes widened and he stared at Candace. How did she know his name?

"I guess I'll leave." Candace opened the door and ran out of the dark office and away from Zach as fast as she could.

**So...What do you think? Like it so far? ^^ Tell us in the review, you'll make three little authors very happy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay! New chapter! ^^ Water, we dedicate this story to you! We forgot to in the last chap, (lousy brain!) but here! It's for you!**

**Also, once again, thank you MonsterHigh! ^^**

Candace walked up the ramp into the Tortuga, running the day's events over in her mind. She couldn't seem to stop thinking about it.  
Aviva saw her as she stepped in,"Candace! Did you get it?"  
Candace sighed, "Not exactly...But I will next time."  
Another girl popped into the Tortuga, flipping her long brown braid as she did, "Hey, Candace! Hi Crew! I'm in!"  
Aviva grinned at Amy, "So she bought it?"  
"Yup. Now I'm a model, slash, agent for Donita Donata. Plus, I already got her next destination!" Amy placed a pen drive on the dias.  
Candace sighed, feeling her failure at getting the nescesary info. She found a corner to be in(hard to find in a round room, but possible) and sat by herself. She was really embarrassed about what happened. Aviva glanced at her and noticed that something was obviously wrong.  
"Are you ok, Candace?" she asked, her olive eyes gleaming with interest.  
"Oh, I'm fine," Candace glanced away. She was lying and Aviva could tell.  
"You sure?"  
"Well, I wanna talk about it, and no offense Aviva, but I don't feel comfortable talking to you about it. Could I talk to Amy?"

Aviva nodded, understanding, and called Amy over to talk to Candace.  
"What's up, Candi?" Amy dragged a chair over and sat down next to the blonde.  
"Well, it's about earlier... in Zach's house."

Candace felt nervous butterflies in her stomach. She really didn't want to talk about it, but she couldn't keep it secret forever.

"What was it? Did something bad happen?" Amy was a bit worried about Candace's current behavior. She wasn't the acting way she usually did.

"Amy...Nothing bad happened, it's just...Well, when I got into Zach's mansion...well, I was chased by Zach-bots and I hid in Zach's office, only find Zach was in there...but...I..I don't know, I saw that room he was in, and I saw him...it's so lonely there...and now I just can't stop thinking about him alone there..."  
Amy carefully watched Candace, biting her lip.  
"Anything else?"  
Candace blushed, looking away slightly, "Well, I..I kinda found him, sorta cute..."  
Amy laughed lightly, "I think I know what's wrong."  
"You do?"  
"I think you like him."

"What?"

"You totally like him, Candi! So what next?" Amy was excited to hear more of this little story.  
"Well, he asked me to leave and then I said his name, without meaning to, so I had to run out there fast!" Candace put up her face into the palms of her hands. This was awful! She actually liked Zach! Now what?  
"Wow, so anything else?"  
"No, that's it. But you have to promise to NOT tell anyone. No one should know about it."  
"Ok, I promise, Candi..." Amy was about to get up until Candace stopped her, grabbing her arm. Justing saying you'd promised wasn't enough for Candace.  
"You need make sure you promise. Cross your heart, Ames."

Amy sighed, playfully, and did what she was asked...  
"Cross my heart, and hope to die. Stick a cupcake in my eye!"

Candace was a little bit more relieved, despite the crazy bit Amy added on.

"Thanks Amy."  
"Hey, anything for a fellow agent and friend!" Amy grinned.  
Candace rolled her eyes.  
"So, what are you going to do about it?"  
Candace blinked, "Do about it?"  
"Yeah. Are you going to ignore it?"

"Not sure. I actually still like him." Candace said that and it didn't feel...wrong. She must of liked him, or even more.  
"I have an idea!"

"What?"

"Maybe you could see him again."  
"How am I gonna do that?"  
"Tell Aviva you're going back there to get the info. When you're in there, talk to him."  
"Not bad. But I want you to come with me. OK?"  
"Fine, Candace. But, he can't see me, okay?"  
Now Amy was going to help with Candace's "love-life crisis".

"Sure Amy," Candace felt a happy buzz creeping over her.

**So...tell us, what do you think? Please? See that button? Yeah, that one, could you click it? Maybe write something? XD JK!**


	3. Do you like me?

**Prin: Yay! ^^ CHapter three! **

**Iris: Uhuh! So, enjoy this chapter! ^^**

Zach paced in his office, finding that his train of thought seemed to insist on turning to Candace Gates.  
The trespasser. Why did his thoughts keep going back to her?  
Ever since he saw her, he couldn't seem to concentrate on anyrthing else.  
"Ugh! What's wrong with me?" Zach kept pacing acroos the dark room. He tried almost everything he could to try to forget her, but no one thing worked for him. Zach finally decided that he needed to see her again. Maybe if he did, everything would go back to normal. But how would he get her to come back?

Suddenly, he grinned, and jumped into his V shaped chair. one push of his legs, and he flew over to his large computer. He quickly typed in "Candace Gates".  
The computer whirred quietly.  
"Searching in town," a futuristic woman's voice came out of the computer.  
"Found, Candace Gates."  
The computer, tracking Candace's cell phone and credit cards, turned on the nearest survailence camera.  
Zah smiled softly. Okay, now to get her here...or get himself over there.  
Which was...right in front of his house...  
He blinked. Wait, what?  
Amy shook her head.  
"This is as far as I go."  
"Come on, Ames."  
"No, look, he has survaelance cameras everywhere! I can't be seen here with you! They might put two and two together, and then," Amy made a cutting motion across her neck.  
Candace sighed.

"Fine."

She turned and slowly made her way towards the large black door that made Zach's entrance.

Candace carefully knocked on the wood of the front door, but instead of Zach showing up, a Zach-bot opened it. It scanned her and started to sound an alarm.  
"Intruder! Intruder!" Candace was about to panic.  
"Wait...no! Be quiet!" Suddenly more bots arrived and carried the blond by the arms. She struggled to get out of their grasp but to no avail. In his office, Zach heard the commotion and ordered his robots to come to him. The bots came, and he noticed that they were carrying someone. Zach couldn't completely make out who it was, until they raised their head. Candace's eyes went wide and gasped.  
"Zach...?"  
Zach's eye widened as well.  
"Candace Gates? What are you doing here?"  
"Just call me Candace. I wanted to talk to you..."

"Why?"

"Well, I..." Candace stopped to still realized she was being carried by the Zach-bots. Zach noticed too and ordered them to let het down, but instead they just dropped her on the ground.  
"Ow!" Candace grabbed her wrist and winced in pain. Zach immediately got up to help her.  
"Are you ok?"  
"I think so..."  
Candace stood up, tenderly feeling her wrist. she winced slightly.  
Zach noticed.  
"Does it hurt?"  
"Not much..."  
Candace sat in the V-shaped chair still looking at her wrist. Zach was getting a little worried about her. Candace managed to ignore the injury and went back to talking to Zach. "Ok, I came to tell you that..." Zach's ears perked up and started to pay closer attention. He leaned in and placed his hands on the desk. Candace resumed her sentence. " Zach... do you...like me?" She placed her hands on his and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Answer me." Zach wasn't sure of what to say.  
Zach puffed his cheeks out slightly. Maybe he did. maybe that was why he couldn't stop thinking about her. But...he was Zach Varmitech. NO one seemed to ever care about him. He eyed her, trying to judge her intentions. Why was she asking him that?  
"What if I did?"  
"Well, I'd actually like that. When I met you, I thought you were sorta...cute." Candace tried her best not to blush. "Well...do you?"  
Zach blinked. Cute? Him? Since when?  
He looked away for a moment, biting his lip.  
He glanced back at Candace's blue-gray eyes, sensing nothing but honesty there. He sighed.  
"Y-yeah..."  
Candace almost jumped out of the seat. "You do? YES!" She squealed with glee while she stood up and hugged Zach tightly. She didn't let go until she saw Zach nearly blush. Not wanting anything to be akward, she quickly let go, smiling at Zach.  
Zach smiled akwardly, finding her rather exuberant...in the good way.  
Candace laughed a little. She quickly looked out the window only to see that it was getting dark. She was about to go but instead she turned to Zach and walked up to him. "Hey, do you think I could stay here tonight? You know... with you?"  
Zach followed her gaze towards the window.  
"Well, I, I guess so...ZACH-BOTS!"  
Three Zachbots flew in.  
"Go get the guest room ready, and step on it!"  
Candace smiled at Zach's generous offer. She followed the Zach-bots into a large dark room. She quickly flipped on the lights. Candace spotted a king-sized bed in the corner and took a seat on the mattress. After she got comfortable, a knock was heard coming from the opposite side of the bedroom door.  
"Come in!"  
Zach peered in.  
"Do..do you like it?"  
"Yeah, it's really comfortable...kinda dark, in the color, but nice," Candace smiled at him.  
"Ok then. If you need anything, just say the word..." Candace chuckled, "Thanks. Good night, Zach!" She laid herself along the bed and silently drifted to sleep.

**Do you see that big blue button? yeah, nearly at the bottom of the page. They updated it! ^^ Now it just begs, "Click ME!" So, please, make that big blue button happy, and click it! And you will get virtual cheescake!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, everyone! ^^ I belive this is chapter..four! Yay! Anyway, you now the drill, read, enjoy, and review. ^^**

Candace woke up with the light of the sun shining through the window and onto her face. The groggy feeling of sleep seemed to be concentrated around her eyes, as though trying to get them to close again so that she could sleep, but Candace yawned and rubbed her eyes, ready to meet the new day. Suddenly, Candace felt something vibrating in her pocket. She immediately pulled out her Wild Kratt team communicator. On the screen, was a slightly irratated and worried Amy. A holographic image of her appeared in the room. "Candi, where have you been?"

Candace yawned.  
"I stayed over at Zach's..."  
Amy looked shocked, "Wait, what?"  
"I said-"  
"I know what you said. I just didn't expect that you'd stay over. I mean, he is the bad guy, even if you like him."

"Sorry, Ames but I was tired. I'll come back to the Tortuga right now," Candace logged off and got herself off the bed. She quickly got ready and walked towards the front door, about to leave until she realized something. She couldn't just go without letting Zach know. Candace turned and walked down to Zach's office only to see him sleeping in his chair with his head on the desk. She giggled at the sight before her.

Zach stirred slightly.  
"Zach?" Candace called. He mumbled something about not wanting to go to school. She giggled again, as she made her way over to his desk.

Candace gently shook him. He turned over, still mumbling something.  
"Looks like he won't wake up..." She noticed a notepad on the inventor's desk. Candace took a pen and wrote a note:

"Had to leave. Be back soon."

Candace placed it next to the sleeping Zach and hurried herself out the door.

Candace soon arrived at the Tortuga HQ and strolled inside, her mind focusing on Zach again. If only she was allowed to see him again.

Then out of the blue, Aviva popped in front of her. "Have you gotten the info yet?"

Candace had completely forgotten what she was supposed to do.

"Um... I'm getting closer."

Candace regreted that she had to lie to protect the fact that she was in love with Zach. She quickly looked around for Amy to talk to her. Candace eventually spotted her on the other side of the room.

Amy was currently busy trying to beat Jimmy Z's high score, but failing miserably at it. When she noticed Candace, she imediatly shut the thing off, grinning.

"Hi, Candi!"

"Hey, Amy. Can we talk?"

"Sure thing, muchacha," Amy grabbed Candace's arm and pulled her out of the Tortuga

They stepped outside and looked around to make sure no one was around to hear.

"Ok. Well, when I went over to Zach's, I asked him if he liked me."

Amy nodded, starting to get interested, "Then what?"

Candace took a deep breath and continued.

"After I asked him... he said 'YES'! It was pretty great, except this bruise I got."

Candace revealed a blue-blackish bruise on her wrist.

Amy flinched at the sight.

"Ouch. How'd you get it?"

"Zach-bots dropped me-"

"Hate those things," Amy interupted, "Sorry, continue."

"Like I was saying... I-" Candace was cut off by Aviva coming out of the Tortuga.

"Hey, girls."

"Hi, Aviva!" both girl said stimiltaniously.

"So what are you talking about?" Candace froze up completely.

"Oh, nothing..." She tried to act as innocent as she could.

Aviva turned to face her.

"I know for a fact you and Amy were talking about something."

"Yeah, but-"

"Well... tell me what it is." Candace almost felt her heart stop. She was freaking out now. Candace quickly turned to Amy.

"Come on, Ames. You tell her."

Amy rolled her eyes at Candace's nervous behaviour. At least she knew how to lie convincingly.

"We were just talking about boyfriends. She was telling me about how one of them kissed her."

Aviva's eyes widened.

"I thought you didn't have a boyfriend, Candace."

"No, it was one of her former boyfriends. Last year or so, right Candi?"

"Right..." Candace glared at Amy.

Aviva just gave them a strange look.

"Um, ok? Well, I'll talk to you later." And with that Aviva went back into the Tortuga. As soon as she was out of sight, Candace stared daggers at Amy.

"How could you say that I had a boyfriend and that I kissed someone?" She slowly calmed down."Well, at least she doesn't know, but I still feel bad. I couldn't stand lying to someone who actually trusted me."

Amy put her hands up.

"Hey, needed a reason as to why you were so nervous. And yeah, it's tough at first, but you get used to it as you keep going," she grinned and elbowed Candace lightly, "I believe there's a verse in Proverbs about that, I'd just love to quote it, to sound funny, but I forgot."

Candace merely rolled her eyes, "Sometimes Amy, I worry about your sanity."

x*x*x*

Zach slowly stirred, rubbing the heavy feeling of sleep off of his eyes. He sat up, blinking to clear his vision. Suddenly he noticed a peice of paper with writing on it. Curious, her picked it up and quickly read it.  
"Had to leave?" finally understanding flooded his sleep clouded mind, "Oh, Candace!"

x*x*x*

Candace and Amy returned to the HQ. Candace picked up a tan and blue bag, which was hers, pulling out a small cyan-colored diary. Candace took a pen and on a blank page, she drew a large red heart and inside was her and Zach's intials: CG+ZV. Amy walked up behind her and said, "Hey Candi, whatcha writing?"

Candace quickly snapped the book shut.

"N-nothing."

Amy smirked, "You were writing something."

"I-well...it's none of your bussiness!"

"Maybe," Amy moved as though to grab the journal, "But, I'll leave it. I think I have a really good idea of what you were writing."

Amy's eyes twinkled with amusment as Candace glared at her, despite feeling rather grateful towards Amy for giving her that space.

Her thoughts drifted, back to Zach.

Amy glanced at Candace. She knew that she liked Zach, but she never thought it would be so seroius.

Amy bit her lip. Maybe she should do something to stop...she sighed, and shook her head. No, this was Candace's choice.

Candace suddenly saw the worried expression on her friends face. "Is something wrong, Ames?"  
Amy shrugged her shoulders at Candace's question, "Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking..."

Candace looked at Amy, giving her a confused sort of look. The blonde quickly stood up, putting her items back into her backpack. "I think I'll go outside for a walk." She stepped out and started heading out. She needed something to take her mind off the crazy things that had happened to her.

**Thank you once again, MH, for working with us on this!**


End file.
